It is known that Turkey has plans to create a naval base in Cyprus in the area of Karpasia, in an area of 145,000 square meters, which the Pseudo-state has decided to cede for use for 30 years to the "mother" country.
The Turkish plan provided for the use of the airport in Lefkoniko, which hosts Turkish drones, in combination with the Turkish base in Cyprus, in order for Ankara to control more easily the unified defence area of Greece-Cyprus, the triangle of Crete-Rhodes-Cyprus and the wider SE Mediterranean.
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Turkish Minister of Defense Guler:" We will renovate an existing pier in Cyprus to allow the TCG Anadolu to dock"
However, according to a recent article by an international media outlet - very well informed on Turkey's defence-security issues - Ankara seems to be abandoning plans to establish a permanent naval base in northern Cyprus, noting:
"Ankara appears to have abandoned its long-standing plans to establish a new naval base in northern Cyprus, with the decision coming in the wake of recent rapprochement between Turkey and Greece.
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Instead of seeking to build a new base, Turkey will modernise an older port to accommodate the docking of larger Turkish ships.
During a Dec. 16 press conference in Ankara, Defense Minister Yaşar Güler announced Turkey's intention to renovate an old port in Cyprus specifically to dock military ships instead of building a base.
Güler said Turkey often sends its ships to the region for exercises, visits and missions.
He stressed the need for a proper berthing facility, noting that there is currently no dock where Turkey's largest warship, the TCG Anadolu, could anchor if it were to visit Cyprus.
"There is an old pier there and we are renovating it for that purpose," he said.
Güler's statements contradict a statement by the navy commander a month ago.
Turkish chief of General Staff of the Navy Tatlıoğlu insists on building a new naval base in Cyprus
Admiral Ercüment Tatlıoğlu announced during a ceremony on 18 November that a new naval base is being built in Cyprus, where the Navy will have a permanent presence.
Tatlıoğlu also said that the base will be located in the northeastern part of Famagusta.
Tatlıoğlu stressed the existence of a balance between Greece's naval fleet and Turkey's fleet, pointing out that while Greece had significantly fewer ships in the past compared to Turkey, the current numbers are almost equal.
He stressed the inability of a single state to unilaterally declare maritime jurisdiction in the eastern Mediterranean due to the presence of multiple countries with overlapping claims. He criticised the Greek Cypriot administration for trying to claim exclusive ownership of the resources of the region by initiating various maritime operations in southern Cyprus as well as in the southern part of Crete, in conjunction with Greece.
It is worth noting that Defence Minister Güler's announcement came after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Athens on December 6.
The rapprochement between Greece and Turkey
Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis took several steps in the normalization process after a prolonged period of tension.
Prior to the visit, Erdogan refrained from aggressive rhetoric on the Greek islands.
As a goodwill gesture, Greece announced the reinstatement of the "visa on arrival" policy for Turkish citizens travelling to certain Greek islands.
During the visit, the leaders signed the "Declaration of Good Neighborliness", announcing a mutual decision to steer Ankara-Athens relations towards a more normalized path in the future.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, at a press conference in Ankara in October after his meeting with Tahsin Türkoğlu, the Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC), stressed that Cyprus and KKTC can benefit from energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean without waiting for a political solution to the long-standing Cyprus problem.
The island has been divided into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south since Turkey's military intervention in 1974.
The Turkish Armed Forces maintain a significant military presence in Cyprus under the umbrella of the Turkish Peacekeeping Forces Command, which consists of some 40,000 soldiers.
In addition, since 2019, Turkish military drones have been deployed on the island. These unmanned aerial vehicles perform reconnaissance and patrol missions linked to a ground control station at Geçitkale airport, which is connected to the naval forces."
Where is Erdogan going with this?
Yesterday, the Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee decided in favour of Sweden's NATO membership, referring the issue for a plenary vote, without setting a date, with some analysts saying January 16, 2024.
Erdogan and Biden during their recent telephone conversation lasting about an hour, reportedly agreed, according to the Turkish President, to simultaneous "passage" by the Turkish Parliament of Sweden's NATO membership with U.S. Congressional approval of the sale of 40 F-16 BLOCK-70 F-16s to Turkey.
Erdogan's approach to our country gave Baiden a serious argument against the US Congress in his attempt to sell the F-16 BLOCK-70s, claiming that since Turkey is getting along with Greece, with which it has signed a "Declaration of Friendship and Good Neighborliness", Turkey does not threaten it and therefore does not intend to use these fighters against it.
Moreover, the remark by Turkish Foreign Minister Fidan about the exploitation of energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean without a solution to the Cyprus problem, gives the signal of Turkish intentions which partly coincide with those of the US-EU which want peace in the region and rapid decoupling of Europe from Russian gas.
Following the above, Erdoğan gave a signal to his government officials to lower their tone on the Cyprus problem and Cyprus, in order to acquire the F-16 BLOCK-70 from the US, but also to achieve the coexploitation of the natural gas located in the EEZ of the Megalonissos, without a solution to the Cyprus problem.
What about the Turkish naval base in Karpasia?
This is the line followed by the statements of the Minister of Defence Güler, talking about upgrading an existing pier in a port in the occupied Cyprus to allow the TCG Anadolu to dock there, while avoiding to mention the plans to establish a Turkish naval base in Karpasia, as A/CNT Tatlioglou did.
Finally, Güler's statements in no way refer to the cancellation of the plan to create a permanent Turkish naval base in the occupied territories, just the silence of reference to it means alignment with Erdogan's orders and a short postponement of its creation.
Our assessment is that Turkey will initially upgrade the pier in the occupied territories in order to dock the TCG Anadolu there, and in a second year continue work on the establishment of a permanent naval base in Karpas.
